January/February Weight Management Challenge

[Catrin]

127.4 again - sigh...

[Chile Pepper]

121
I started this week at 121 and have held it there. Yay! The coming week is going to be tough, with several food events planned. Fingers crossed I can at least hold it here.

[emily_in_nc]

104.5 and holding.

Had to give up stair-climbing as I ended up with ball-of-foot pain (Metatarsalgia) in my right foot. Stairs are tile-on-concrete, and even with my good trail-running shoes with inserts, the pain afterwards is just not worth it. Our condo is tiled and living on a tropical island, I am usually barefoot or in flip-flops, so it's not a big surprise that adding something new to the exercise mix caused problems.

Still keeping up with 2x weekly yoga and lots of biking and swimming, so that seems to be doing the job without my having to restrict food too much.

[Catrin]

121
I started this week at 121 and have held it there. Yay! The coming week is going to be tough, with several food events planned. Fingers crossed I can at least hold it here.

This is a far better way of looking at this than my sighing over the same thing - thanks for the kick in the butt I know you didn't mean it that way, but you got me thinking. It is no small thing to maintain this time of the year, and I am working to actively build muscle...so I've no reason to complain. Thanks!

[carlotta]

165.

We spent the weekend with old friends in DC (complete with too much pizza/beer) and I came home with a nasty cold....I'm ok with basically holding steady after that weekend and limited exercise/not eating terribly well after we got home. Hopefully I can kick the cold soon and get off of the soup/mac'n'cheese/few other things that sound good diet.

[murielalex]

Yesterday, I was 154.8 and feeling stuck over the past week. Today, I woke up to 158.4. WTH? I'm not even counting it, but will weigh again tomorrow.

[Crankin]

I'm getting pretty discouraged. I keep reminding myself that my high weight is 2-3 lbs. lower than last year, but I am spending every week just getting my weight back down from the weekend. I didn't weigh myself yesterday, after our x country ski trip, but today I was at 108. I just haven't been able to fully commit to the 2 week total no grain plan and go for more than a few days without my glass of red wine. And I'm wondering if there's something I can do with my exercise to change this up. Still going to boot camp, but I've backed off of the running, as my hip is really not great with it. I'm doing the trainer or spin at least 2X a week, as well as nordic skiing, snow shoeing, hiking, too. Clothes still fit OK, albeit maybe a bit snug in the hip area, but I feel flabby.
It's not like me to not be disciplined, so I just keep trying.

[emily_in_nc]

Sometimes this stuff just doesn't make sense to me. As much as you exercise and as clean as you eat, crankin, it makes no sense that you are gaining weight. Even though you are still light, I know you feel the same as me at 108 -- not a happy camper!

You don't think that paradoxically you might not be eating enough and your body is going into starvation mode, do you? I know I've read/heard that sometimes eating a bit more can help in weight loss, even though it's hard to believe!

I, on the other hand, was at my lowest weight in a long time this morning, and there's no rhyme nor reason about it, but I'll take it, of course. I weighed 4-5 lbs. more when I was running regularly than I weigh now, and I'm not eating very differently. I did cut out my daily fruit smoothie in the afternoon (an extra "meal" I didn't need), but that was months ago. In my case I think some of it may be hormonal since I am in the peri-menopausal fluctuation time. I did add two bike rides to my weekly workout, but it's hard to imagine that making this much of a difference in my weight-maintenance efforts. If it's that, then good!

I suspect I'm going to be putting on a few lbs. soon as we'll be leaving Belize in either March or April (depending on whether the sale of our condo goes through or not), and towards the end we'll be going out to eat a lot more -- got to hit all our favorites one last time. And in the US too, I'm sure we'll be eating out a lot at first. So better to start a little lower if I can maintain now.

[Megustalaplaya]

115 this morning. I really don't know if that is accurate though. My old scale stopped working and I finally bought a new one yesterday. I really think it is weighing me too light as I didn't get as much exercise or really watch my food intake when I was without a scale. Plus, my clothes are not fitting any differently to reflect a weight loss. Since the scale seems to be weighing me light I'm going to change my goal to 110 by March 1. I wish my old one didn't stop working. It was always spot on with my both of my doctor's scales.

I'm back to logging all my food again as I always see results when I log everything I eat. It's amazing how quickly the calories can add up if you're not careful.

[Crankin]

Emily, there's no way I'm not eating enough. Even if I took out the factor of being less strict on the weekends, my portion sizes are not super small. They're not huge, but I could not exist on some of the portion sizes recommended. You are right that my eating is very clean, but it doesn't seem to be enough. I suspect a couple of things. One, is that I naturally gain a couple of pounds in the winter, which sheds as soon as I start more outdoor cycling, even though I am exercising just as much. The other is that my body seems to be exquisitely fine tuned to whatever changes I make. And, the fact is, I get ravenous when I do outdoor winter stuff, even more than when I do hard rides. I also am going to try to do some different stuff with exercising. Not more stuff, maybe just doing some different things once in awhile.
Sitting here, trying to not have a glass of wine .

[Catrin]

I think it makes a lot of difference to our bodies to mix up our types of exercise - that is one thing I've really learned in the last year. Also increased stress of many kinds can raise cortisol levels which doesn't help. It is important to get enough sleep (I could take more of this advice), there are just so many things that can make a difference in this area...

[Crankin]

I've also been trying to get more sleep. Given that I get up at 4:50 a least 2x a week, it's hard, as I work later hours now. If I get in bed at 9, I'm OK, even if i stay up until 10:00.
Stress, yeah. I am getting sick of my job; not the work, per se, or even the burnout that comes in my profession, more the driving all over to go to my client's homes and the fact my office is further away than almost all of my clients. Yesterday was my first drive home in a snowstorm since 2007, when I was teaching. Of course, I was at the office, 26 miles away and I was not happy. I keep telling myself only a few more months, which is true, but somehow everyone has the idea I am there for the long haul, when really, almost everyone comes here to get their requisite experience for their full license, whether they are social workers or professional counselors.

[emily_in_nc]

Crankin, if it helps at all, I am usually at my lowest weights when I drink wine daily. When I was in the 101-102 range a few years ago, I had a glass of wine pretty much every night with dinner. Here, because wine is so expensive, I usually drink a beer or rum drink, and I figured that was why I had put on a few, but I am still doing it and have now lost those few lbs., so who knows?

[goldfinch]

I have really upped the intensity of my biking. I did 560 miles in January, by far the most miles I ever have done. Even though my weight loss is minimal, about 2 pounds in a month, it is in the right direction. But like Crankin, I am having trouble getting enough sleep. The old dog wakes me up at 5:00 am to pee and she urgently has to go. We go to bed about 9:00 pm but I just cannot get to sleep. I've been averaging only about 6.5 hours a night. I've tried taking the dog out and then going back to bed but I can't go back to sleep. Tonight I am taking the dog out later and will try to ignore her between 5:00 and 5:15 to gradually try to get her to sleep later. I don't know how much luck I will have as she always has been an early riser.

Because of lack of sleep and lots of biking I am spending too much time on the couch being tired. I sure need balance.

[Crankin]

I'm sleeping OK, I'm just trying to get more sleep (as I say on a day when I woke at 4:50 for the third day this week, to go to spin).

106.0

Less than last week, downward trend, but I have been really scrupulous in my eating. No wine since Monday. Smaller snacks. Absolutely no grains since Monday, not even Ezekial bread or quinoa. I can do this for about another week, which will, hopefully, get me into the 105 range. We have no plans this weekend, so I will cook tomorrow night, but Sunday might involve going out with my son and DIL.
We are going on another x country ski trip Feb. 14-17. That is pretty close to the end of this challenge and I am afraid it might ruin my goal for me. Last year, our trip came right at the end of the challenge; I gained back all of the weight I had lost, but it was gone a week later.